1)Listen to Podcast
2)GG Questions
04/26/2020
Nonsense! The Paradox of Suffering: Questions We Ask
1. Logical Problem of Evil: If God is all-loving, He doesn’t want us to suffer. And if God is all-powerful, He is able to prevent us from suffering. Why, then, do we suffer? Suppose your child asked you this, or an unbeliever at work, or even a brother or sister in Christ. How would you answer?
2. Grumbling and Grieving: When we experience pain and suffering it’s natural to ask, ‘Why?’ Jonathan further broke down this question into four different ways we ask, ‘why’. The first two are the why of grumbling and the why of grieving. What’s the difference between these two? Describe the swirls of emotions grumbling inside the psalmist of Psalm 13. At what time in your life could you best relate to this psalm? Are Christians permitted to grieve (1 Thess. 4:13)? Is grief healthy or unhealthy?
3. Guidance and Gratitude: The why of guidance asks, “What is God teaching me through this painful season?” What lessons are learned best in the classroom of suffering (Psa. 119:71; 2 Cor. 1:3-4, 9)? The why of
gratitude is mysterious. It affirms that in our deepest pain, we often experience God’s deepest love (Psa.
34:18; 147:3). How can this be true? Have you experienced it as such?
4. Heaven Will Work Backwards: Samwise Gamgee, at the end of The Lord of the Rings, said to Gandalf, “I thought you were dead! But, then, I thought I was dead myself! Is everything sad going to come untrue?” At the end of this chapter of our story, when Jesus returns upon a white horse, is He going to make all sad things come untrue? How? And, how does this perspective on God’s promise to redeem evil help you lean into this mystery as we await its fulfillment?
